Jack Kemp
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Jack French Kemp (born July 13, 1935) is an American politician and former professional American football player. He was the Republican candidate for the Vice Presidency in the 1996 Presidential election.
Kemp was born, raised and educated in Los Angeles, California. He is a graduate of Occidental College.
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Football career
Jack Kemp began his professional football career in 1957 when he was selected by the Detroit Lions in the 17th round of the NFL Draft. After three NFL seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers and the New York Giants, Kemp signed as a free agent with the Los Angeles Chargers of the AFL. Kemp won two American Football League Western Division championships with the Los Angeles - San Diego Chargers before being picked up by the Buffalo Bills. He led Buffalo to three straight Eastern Division titles and two American Football League championships, in 1964 and 1965, throwing to receivers Elbert Dubenion and Ernie Warlick. Kemp was the first 3,000 yard passer in the American Football League (1960, 14-game schedule) and the league's Most Valuable Player in 1965. He had the most career passes attempted, most completions and most yards gained passing in the history of the American Football League.
Jack Kemp was an American Football League All-Star six consecutive years and for seven of the league's ten years, and the only AFL quarterback to be a starter all ten years. Kemp co-founded the American Football League Players Association and was elected its president five times. He was one of only twenty players who were in the American Football League for its entire ten-year existence.
Political career
Kemp represented the Buffalo, New York region in the United States House of Representatives from 1971 to 1989. In 1988 he ran unsuccessfully for the Republican Presidential nomination, and subsequently served as the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 1989 to 1993 under President George H. W. Bush. In 1996 he was the Republican Vice Presidential candidate, and he was long expected to run in 2000, making that election a re-run between the two Vice-Presidential candidates of 1996. Kemp did, however, decline to run in 2000, endorsing Governor of Texas George W. Bush instead.
Jack Kemp also started the free market advocacy group, Empower America. In 2004, Empower America merged with Citizens for a Sound Economy to form FreedomWorks (http://www.freedomworks.org).
His legacy includes the Kemp-Roth Tax Cut of the 1980s, also known as the first of the two "Reagan tax cuts."
Kemp has been floated as a potential Republican nominee for President of the United States in 2008.
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| Preceded by: Samuel R. Pierce | United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development 1989 – 1993 | Succeeded by: Henry Cisneros |
| Preceded by: Dan Quayle | Republican Party Vice Presidential candidate 1996 (lost) | Succeeded by: Dick Cheney |